[steve]

everyone here is smarter than me. especially those who told me to park my ride when i first heard a slight knock and i found some metal in my filter. this is the kind of post you make hoping someone will pay attention and save themselves.

i have never had oil pressure issues.... always about 55 cold and over 15 at idle hot. after adjusting my valve lash the knock was not as loud so i felt safe assuming a valve train issue...maybe a bad lifter....and ok to drive and watch.

i have not driven the car in a few weeks so i was very excited for a ride today after 30 min of tooling around i found a nice quite parking lot and smoked them. twice. the lot is only 3 miles from home. when i pulled in the driveway i noticed the oil pressure @ ZERO. stopped the motor and waited 5 min. fired it for a second and still no pressure so i cut it off.

it now sits in my garage and i'm sad....

its a good thing the 400 build is going well.................

PLEASE ANY GUESSES ON WHAT FAILED WOULD HELP !

[screamingchief]

PLEASE ANY GUESSES ON WHAT FAILED WOULD HELP !

Piece of trash behind the relief checkball in the oil pump,causing the bypass to hang open constantly and bypassing oil instead of pressurizing the system.

Broken oil pump driveshaft.

Plugged oil pump pick-up.

Those would be my first three guesses.

[steve]

thanks chief ! i feel that is the right area to look too. when i re-started it for a second it sounded fine...no other odd noises. in fact it sounded strong.....

[Tom Vaught]

But still no oil pressure.

I assume you revved it up with no oil pressure (it sounded strong) rather than play it safe and try and find the root cause. DOH!

Tom V.

[Lloyd-TX]

With it sounding OK (assuming you're running hydraulic lifters), I'd say you quite possibly have a gauge issue.

Hoping that's it for your sake, anyway.

Good luck!

[screamingchief]

Originally Posted by Lloyd-TX

With it sounding OK (assuming you're running hydraulic lifters), I'd say you quite possibly have a gauge issue.

Hoping that's it for your sake, anyway.

Good luck!

Nah,,,too obvious...

Why did'nt I think of that???

[steve]

no, tom v. i'm stupid sometimes, but not that stupid. it had a strong healthy idle. no noises or misses. i only ran it for a second, just long enough to see the needle on the gauge twitch but not really move. it is an el cheapo gauge but it is new. i'll try the obvious and find another gauge first. i'll also change the oil and cut the filter.

[track73]

I have never seen an engine with zero oil pressure with just worn bearings. Chief is right. My assumption is that some of the grit that was from the worn out bearing or piston (knock) found in your oil filter stuck the relief valve open. I have had that happen when I broke a piston, except it froze it in the middle so oil pressure would go up and down with the rpm. I also had a pump drive shaft break when the idler gear on the oil pump froze on the shaft. That one had zero pressure. FYI if your hear what you think may be a rod knock. Disconnect a spark plug wire one at a time and if the noise goes away during the process that is the culprit. With a piston with a collapsed wall the knock will get quieter when the engine is warmed up. I have had the black death on my 455 that sounded like a rod, but was a detonated piston.

[Region Warrior]

Time to screw in a mechanical hand held test gauge.

If it had no oil pressure, you would know.
Learned the hard way when i was a kid about sucking the stock oil pan(60lb pump) dry and stuck ball on 5K burn outs.
By the time got a block away, the lifters would be screaming for oil.
Yes, could here'm over the hedders w/2.5 pipes.

[steve]

Originally Posted by track73

Disconnect a spark plug wire one at a time and if the noise goes away during the process that is the culprit. With a piston with a collapsed wall the knock will get quieter when the engine is warmed up. I have had the black death on my 455 that sounded like a rod, but was a detonated piston.

i tried the plug thing...in fact the engine really didnt seem to mind too much when i pulled wires but no change on the noise. i dont think anyone has suggested yet that the piston noise goes away when warm....that sounds like me. detonation....that also sounds like me with my over 11:1 compression and foolish experiments on mixing my own race gas......when you lost a piston what did the metal look like in the filter ?

[steve]

Originally Posted by Region Warrior

Time to screw in a mechanical hand held test gauge.

If it had no oil pressure, you would know.
Learned the hard way when i was a kid about sucking the stock oil pan(60lb pump) dry and stuck ball on 5K burn outs.
By the time got a block away, the lifters would be screaming for oil.
Yes, could here'm over the hedders w/2.5 pipes.

ouch ! i do have a deep pan but i did not hear lifters....

i'm off to napa.....

[chiphead]

Uhhh Steve.... I think the main problem here is the nut holding the wheel.

Sorry, I had to go there.

Stop fracking around and park it!!! Somebody needs to go over there and steal your starter motor.

good luck, Chip

[steve]

i deserve it....i tried an old gauge laying around and it reads 10psi at idle, but i think i have several issues...i hear a LOUD tapping from the passenger side head. took the cover offf and all is looking well but you can hear it well.....you can even hear the difference in the exhust note from the back of the car....i think i am still on the track of a bad valve and/or lifter.....

[track73]

I don't remember what the stuff in the filter looked like. It happened a while ago. I have had 3 pontiac engines go south . One with a spun rod bearing another with the busted piston and the last was the collaped (detonated) piston. I fixed both pistons in chassis. The rod required the engine to be removed. I also learned a trick from a Pontiac guy along time ago about R&Ring a head without removing the intake.

[Tom Vaught]

How many miles on the camshaft?

A guy I know had a camshaft lobe go down and it made a similar noise to what you describe BUT you could hear that one valve every so often.

Turned out the valve hung in the guide, bent the pushrod,
bent the valve head, etc.

The machine shop's "Fix" was to go back and replace the one valve, hone the guides another .0005" for slightly more clearance, and then back togetheragain. The cam lobe went a short time after that.

I would check the oil filter first by using a proper tool to cut the filter open. Using a saw blade actually might fake
you out as you are making debris.

Tubing cutter style cutters the only way to go. Power Master makes a very nice one.

Tom V.

[steve]

if what i was told about the motor when i got is true then less than 10k. i have been using zddp additive but who knows....i will probably pull the intake and pan too. cant drive it. that noise is way too loud for driving......

[SWEETJUDGE]

all that has nothing to do with pressure..... Pull the dist & put a primer in there, i think you will need an old housing so the oil gets to where it needs to go. hook up a new different guage PRIME & watch pressure... make sure you spin the correct way.

Bump the motor over while you are doing so.....prime & bump ..prime & bump if you still have no pressure PULL IT. Ive heard of some bad fram filters aswell. start with removing the filter & housing. carefully cut the filter in half & inspect, if theres tons or crap in there pull it.

[SWEETJUDGE]

theres NO BAND AID for no pressure. If you dissassemble, inspect the parts farthest from the oil pump as they will have the most wear

[Tom Vaught]

Sounds like if it "is SO LOUD I can't drive it" you probably
have a rod knock.

So you got this engine "with 10K" from someone else?

Tom V.

[SWEETJUDGE]

i doubt this is your NOISE issue, but a buddy had a 383 Mopar & it always had a slight knock. We found the knock & this is going to sound crazy but this one rod was machined soooooo much & resized soooo many times the rod itself was short..way short, so short the piston skirt was hitting the counter wieght of the crank..........
He couldnt believe i figured that out on my back under the car.